Q: My ophthalmologist recently told me I had macular degeneration. On a scale of 1 to 10, he said it’s a 1. He sold me a bottle of vitamins (60 tabs) for $20. I feel that I have been ripped off. Any thoughts?
– R.B., Boynton Beach, Fla.
A: If you thought the vitamins were pricey, why did you buy them? Part of the healing process for people is their belief in a treatment; that’s why placebos can work for the desperately ill. If the supplement you got contains any or all of these ingredients, then it is valuable: vitamin A, E, C, omega-3 fatty acids, copper, bilberry, lutein, zinc, zeaxanthin. There are many brand names for these over-the-counter formulas. As a general rule, I prefer capsules over tablets for supplements.
Let’s talk about getting “ripped off” when buying vitamins. It happens sometimes because supplements are not always pure, or they fail to contain what the label says they do. I’m also cognizant of the fact that you spent $20 for this product when your vision is still pretty good. But the problem may be about perception too.
Moving Americans out of the mind-set of “I’m sick now, fix me with this pill” into the mindset of “I don’t want to get sick, so I’ll prevent illness with this supplement” is hard. It is not how we are raised, and, seemingly, it’s not in our DNA. And such an attitude gets no airtime on TV. Truly, it’s a mind-boggling concept for people not accustomed to putting money into their bodies as a method of “health insurance.”
Suppose for a minute that your eyesight has indeed deteriorated, because it will as you get older. Fathom that maybe, just maybe, your doctor wants to help and is thinking outside the pillbox, and knows about nutritional interventions to improve eyesight. Let’s fast-forward 10 years and imagine that you are blind, but your hindsight is 20-20, and you look back to realize that your doctor cared enough to bother recommending something helpful to you in order to put off the inevitable for another decade or two.
Do you honestly think your doctor has so much time on his hands that he needs to pitch a supplement to you so he can make five extra bucks off you? And what is the actual cost to you? At $20 a bottle for 60 pills taken twice daily amounts to $10 per eye each month, which breaks down to 33 cents per eye per day. Not bad insurance for your eyes, considering how difficult life gets without them.
If you don’t have any genuine concern for losing your vision, and you don’t fear that your eyesight will deteriorate from a “1” to, say, a “9” on the scale you mention, then don’t take the supplement. Take your chances instead.
Suzy Cohen is a registered pharmacist. To contact her, visit www.dearpharmacist.com.
